Traveling the Caribbean After Hurricanes Irma and Maria
Hurricane Season of 2017 has caused devastating damage across the Caribbean with hurricane’s Irma and Maria; however, the Caribbean is a big place and many options are still available for tourism.
The U.S. and British Virgin Islands, Barbuda, St. Martin, St. Bart’s, Puerto Rico, St. John, and Dominica experienced some of the worst damage following the hurricanes. While, Barbados, Antigua, Jamaica, and the Bahamas, have done much better and have already begun to welcome tourists back to the islands. Repairing and rebuilding will vary greatly from island to island and can take anywhere from a few weeks to up to a year.
The Caribbean greatly depends on the revenue from tourism. Many visitors are planning to return for Christmas travel, which is a wonderful time to travel to the Caribbean to escape the white winters in the States. Understand that Puerto Rico, for instance, will bounce back but it is going to take some time. However, bigger hotel brands with more available resources are likely to rebound quicker than those smaller hotels.
This hurricane season has broken records with both the storm’s’ strength as well as the destruction that it caused. With continued donations to flow to islands in need, these destinations will rebuild, sooner than expected. It is clear the Caribbean will bounce back, we must be mindful it might take some time and we should consider this when planning our vacations to one of the areas that suffered catastrophic damages.